The Senate Banking Committee had Jamie Dimon, the head of JP Morgan, as its chief witness today. Ostensibly, the hearing was held to investigate whether the risky investments that led to a near-financial collapse in 2007-08 are being continued in light of the least $2 billion (more likely $7 billion) loss experienced by JP Morgan this year on what it claims was a “hedge” investment. The idea that the Senate Banking Committee could investigate JP Morgan in any serious way is a sick joke: 16 of the 22 Senators on the committee received campaign contributions from the firm (2 current Senators are retiring and are therefore not collecting any campaign contributions). ProPublica did an investigation on how deeply in JP Morgan’s pocket the Committee actually is. This phase of American democracy is a sick farce.
Revolving Door
One current staffer on the Senate banking committee, Dwight Fettig, is a former lobbyist for JP Morgan. In 2009, the bank hired him to work on “financial services regulatory reform.” Meanwhile, JP Morgan is stacked thick with former committee staff.
· Naomi Camper – Currently a lobbyist for JP Morgan. Prior to that, from 2001-2004, she was an aide to Senator Johnson.
· Kate Childress –A JP Morgan lobbyist since 2008, she is also a former aide to Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who sits on both the Senate Banking and Finance committees.
· Steven Patterson –A JP Morgan lobbyist and formerly a staff director for economic policy for the Banking committee.
· Nate Gatten— A JP Morgan lobbyist based in London who was reportedly called back to Washington recently to help with the company’s damage control. He is a former lobbyist for Fannie Mae, and, in the 1990s, was a banking aide to former Senator Robert Bennett, R-Utah, who also sat on the committee.
· P. Michael Nielsen – A lobbyist with a firm run by former Senator Bennett, he hasbeen retained by JP Morgan for help with federal probes, according to Bloomberg. He was also a senior policy adviser to the committee from 2007 to 2010.
American Banker also reported that three other outside lobbyists currently working for JP Morgan were once affiliated with the committee:
· Jason Rosenberg – A lobbyist at The Glover Park Group and formerly an aide to Jon Tester, D-Mont., who sits on the committee.
· Jenn Fogel-Bublick – A lobbyist at McBee Strategic Consulting and formerly a Democratic counsel on the committee.
· Mike Chappell – A lobbyist for Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock and a former press assistant to Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., another committee member.
A former senator on the committee, Mel Martinez, R-Fl., is also now the JP Morgan exec in charge of Florida, Central America, and the Caribbean. Martinez waselected to the Senate in 2004 and went to the bank in 2010. Bloomberg reported that he was called to Washington after the losses were reported.
Lobbyists for JP Morgan appear to be keeping busy. The bank spent $7.6 million on lobbying last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Campaign Contributions:
JP Morgan has also been a generous donor to banking committee members, both Republican and Democratic.
· JP Morgan is the second largest campaign contributor to Johnson, the committee chair, and to the top Republican on the committee, Richard Shelby of Alabama,over the past twenty years, according to a tally from American Banker.
· JP Morgan employees have donated more than $80,000 to Johnson since 1998 and more than $136,000 to Shelby since 1990.
· So far in 2012, Dimon has personally donated to committee members Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Mark Warner, D-Va. In 2008, he gave $2,000 each to Johnson and Shelby.
· Six of the 22 members of the banking committee have not received any money from JP Morgan PACs or employees in recent election cycles. Two of those members are retiring and aren’t collecting campaign funds.
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